The early life of the Cantrelle family in Louisiana is
truly one of public service. Although they acquired vast tracts of
land along the Mississippi River and enjoyed wealth, they devoted
their lives to the people of Louisiana. The father of the family
Jacques Cantrelle was influential in the affairs of New Orleans –
being a warden of St. Louis Catholic Church and an employee of the
Superior Council in New Orleans. Two of his sons-in-law Louis Judice
and Nicolas Verret were commanders and commandants of the Acadians in
today’s St. James and Ascension Parishes. One son Michel Cantrelle was
a commandant of the Acadian Coast and the Parish Judge of old Acadia
Parish and of St. James Parish. Their story forms a significant part
of the early history of this unique region of Louisiana.

Several
members of the Guédry family who arrived in Louisiana between 1765 and
1785 settled in the St. James and Ascension Parish area. Among these
was the very first Guédry to reach Louisiana soil – Joseph Guédry.
After spending a brief period in the Attakapas region, Joseph Guédry
relocated to Ascension Parish in September 1765.

ACADIANS ARRIVE IN LOUISIANA AND THE COMMANDERS

Beginning in 1764 as the first Acadians were arriving
in Louisiana, the French authorities appointed commanders to assist
the Acadians in settling their assigned lands. Additionally, these
commanders, invested with limited civil and judicial authority,
preserved the peace in their territory and with limited authority were
judges. In 1769 the Spanish assumed full control of Louisiana and
apportioned Louisiana into districts. The superior officer of each
district was the commandant with significant military, civil and
judicial powers. The commandants had a broader role in the district
than did the earlier French commanders. The commandants not only
preserved the peace, but also examined traveler’s passports, aided new
settlers in obtaining land grants, prevented smuggling, registered the
sale of lands and slaves, served as a judge in minor cases, acted as a
notary public and represented the Spanish governor in their districts.
Additionally, the commandant awarded building contracts for public
works and for furnishing provisions, issued land grants to settlers,
employed many persons and could make ‘cadets’ of settlers’ children.
Cadets received a salary and could become officers in the army. In
addition to his small salary, the commandant received fees that he
collected and was given the title ‘Don’ and a commission as a
lieutenant in the Spanish Army.

In early 1764 twenty Acadian exiles
from New York arrived in Louisiana and in April of that year Governor
d’Abbadie settled them on the right (west) bank of the Mississippi
River near present-day Lagan, LA (St. James Parish). In February 1765
a second group of 193 Acadians from Halifax via St-Domingue reached
New Orleans and in April 1765 they were sent to the Attakapas District
(St. Martin Parish). In September 1765, to escape the raging malarial
or yellow fever epidemic in the Attakapas District, 82 Acadians left
their homes and resettled near Lagan, LA with the first group of
Acadian immigrants. During May through November 1765 at least three
other groups of approximately 300 Acadians from St-Domingue arrived at
New Orleans and were settled on the west bank of the Mississippi River
near present-day Welcome, LA (St. James Parish). Shortly thereafter,
several of the Acadian families in this latter group moved downstream
to a site near present-day Front Vacherie, LA (St. James Parish, LA).

Several groups of Acadians from Maryland arrived in
New Orleans between 1766 and 1769. In September 1766 a chartered
English ship delivered 224 Maryland Acadians to Louisiana. They soon
were joined by an undetermined number of Acadians who arrived in
December 1766. Governor Ulloa settled these groups along the
Mississippi River in St. James and Ascension Parishes. Then in July
1767 another 211 Maryland Acadians arrived and in August 1767 were
settled on the east side of the Mississippi River at Fort St. Gabriel
located on the south side of Bayou Manchac near present-day St.
Gabriel, LA (Iberville Parish). During February 1768 a group of 149
Maryland Acadians reached New Orleans. Governor Ulloa forced them to
settle on the west side of the Mississippi River at San Luis de
Natchez near present-day Vidalia, LA – a swampy, insect-infested land
far from the other Acadian settlements and vulnerable to Indian raids.
In December 1769 the Spanish permitted these Acadians to resettle
downstream on the west side of the Mississippi River in present-day
Ascension and northern Assumption Parishes just north of earlier
Acadian settlements. In January 1769 the “La Bretana” (Brittania) left
Port Tobacco, Maryland bound for New Orleans with 30 Acadians and
approximately 70 Englishmen and Germans. As they neared the mouth of
the Mississippi River, strong winds and fog caused them to miss the
entrance and they landed near present-day Matagorda Bay, TX. After
imprisonment by the Spanish as smugglers, they eventually reached
Natchitoches, LA in October 1769 and in November 1769 settled on the
east bank of the Mississippi River near present-day Galvez, LA
(Iberville Parish).

No other groups of Acadians are known to have
reached Louisiana until the seven Acadian expeditions of 1785 brought
from France approximately 1500 new Acadian immigrants to Louisiana.
The only other group of Acadians known to have arrived in Louisiana
was an extended family of 19 Acadians who landed at New Orleans in
December 1788 aboard the “Brigite” - having sailed from St. Pierre
Island (St. Pierre and Miquelon). They settled in present-day
Ascension Parish.1,2

In 1765 as the Acadians began arriving
in Louisiana, Nicolas Verret and Louis Judice were
appointed cocommanders of the territory along the Mississippi River above the German Coast. This
territory became the Acadian Coast. Both Louis Judice
and Nicolas Verret resided near present-day St.
James, LA (St. James Parish) with Judice’s home being
a short distance upstream of Verret’s home. Between them
was the Spanish land grant of Jacques
Cantrelle located in the section called Cabahanoce.
Initially the Acadian Coast covered both banks of the
Mississippi River from approximately five miles below
present-day St. James, LA (near present Oak Alley
Plantation) northward to the Ascension Parish line. As more Acadians settled in the area, the Spanish
divided the territory into two parts with Verret being
commander from his residence downriver to the southern
edge of the territory and Judice being commander of the
territory from the home of Jacques Cantrelle (present-day
area of the St. James Catholic Church) upriver to
the Ascension Parish line. Judice eventually extended
the northern boundary of his territory into
Ascension Parish. In January 1770 the jurisdictions changed
with Verret as commandant of the Acadian Coast from
Front Vacherie to the Ascension Parish line and Judice
as commandant above the Ascension Parish line. When
Verret died on 5 November 1775, the Spanish
appointed Michel Cantrelle as commandant of Verret’s territory.3

American Revolution plaque at the grave
of Michel

Cantrell, St. James Catholic Cemetery

JACQUES CANTRELLE – FIRST CANTRELLE IN LOUISIANA

Jacques Cantrelle, son of Claude
Cantrelle and Marguerite Turpin and a native of St. Leger,
Picardy, France,

4,5 was born about 1697. In 1720 he arrived
in Louisiana on the braque Le Profond after a
voyage of over three months. Initially, he was a worker on
the Arkansas fort and by 1729 was in Natchez. On 28
November 1729 the Natchez Indians raided Fort
Rosalie and killed over 200 inhabitants in less than two
hours. Jacques Cantrelle had gone hunting for the day
and escaped the massacre; however, his wife Marie
Françoise Minquetz4,5 was not so fortunate. She perished
during the massacre4,5.
There were no known children of this marriage. Many French left Natchez
after the massacre including Jacques Cantrelle, who headed
south, down the Mississippi River. He eventually
settled at Cannes Brulées near present-day Kenner, LA.6

Shortly after settling in Louisiana,
Jacques Cantrelle married Marie Marguerite Larmusiau,
daughter of Jean Baptiste Larmusiau and Catherine
Esternay and the widow of Pierre LeHoux, on 16 April
17304,5.
The couple lived at Gentilly ridge in
eastern New Orleans along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Here
Cantrelle became a warden of the St. Louis Church
and was influential in New Orleans affairs6.
He was employed by the Superior Council.

Granted a tract of land in 1762 with
ten arpents frontage at Cabahanoce along the
Mississippi River near present-day St. James, LA,
Cantrelle opted to continue living in New Orleans. In the
September 1763 Census of the Colony of Louisiana7,8 Jacques Cantrelle was listed within Captain
Guinault’s district in New Orleans and had a wife, two sons
less than fourteen years of age, three women
slaves, two boy slaves, two girl slaves and a
musket. From other records we know the family to be
living with him at this time to be his wife Marie
Marguerite Larmusiau4,5 and their two sons Michel
Cantrelle (baptized 24 March 1750)9,10 and Jacques Cantrelle fils (born 1 April 1752)11,12.
The couple also had three daughters who were married by
1763. Marie Marguerite Cantrelle married Nicolas
Verret about 174813,14 and Marie Jeanne Cantrelle
wed Louis Judice about 175113,15.
Nicolas Verret and Louis Judice were the two commanders of the Acadian Coast. A third daughter Marianne
Cantrelle married first Pierre Songy about 175516,17 and then Jean Baptiste Poeyfarre on 23 May 178017,18.
All three daughters and their families resided
along the Acadian Coast.

Not until approximately 1766 did Jacques Cantrelle move to his grant at Cabahanoce where he appeared on the census records of 176627,28, 176929,30 and 177731,32. Extending from just below the present St. James Catholic Church downriver to almost the current St. James Co-Op Sugar Mill, Jacques Cantrelle’s land grant was twenty-eight arpents. On 21 October 1777 Jacques Cantrelle was buried from St. James Catholic Church near Cabahanoce30,33,34,35. His wife Marie Marguerite Larmusiau lived to be 80 years old, dying in July 1785. Her funeral was held at the St. Louis Cathedral on 10 July 178536,37.

MICHEL CANTRELLE – SERVING THE FIRST ACADIAN COAST

Michel Cantrelle, the second to youngest child of Jacques Cantrelle and Marie Marguerite Larmusiau, certainly had a life filled with adventure as he lived in bustling New Orleans during his childhood and youth and then, as a young man, moved with his parents and brother Jacques Jr. to the largely unsettled region of Cabahanoce on the west bank of the Mississippi River above New Orleans. Here he experienced deep tragedy and setbacks as he rose to become commandant of the Acadians settled in that region. On 24 March 1750 at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans Jacques Cantrelle and his wife Marie
Marguerite Larmusiau watched silently as Father Dagobert baptized their infant son Michel Cantrelle. His godfather Michel Meilleur from whom he received his name was a master cobbler in New Orleans and his godmother Marie Jeanne Cantrelle was his older sister who soon would marry Louis Judice.9,10. After the ceremony he and his
parents returned to their home on Gentilly ridge along the southeastern shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

In 1758 on the third of April Michel’s sister and
godmother Marie Jeanne Cantrelle and her husband Louis Judice had their fourth child, a son, and they named him Michel after his young uncle Michel Cantrelle. With 8-year old Michel Cantrelle as his godfather the infant boy Michel Judice was baptized on 5 April 1758 at St. Louis Cathedral. His aunt Marguerite LeHoux was his godmother15,38. Two years later at the age of ten Michel Cantrelle was the godfather of his niece Marie Verret baptized on 12 August 1760 at St. Louis Cathedral. She was the daughter of Nicolas Verret and Marie Marguerite Cantrelle, Michel’s sister39,40.
Interestingly, by the age of ten Michel Cantrelle was the godfather of a child of each of the first co-commanders of the Acadians.

In September 1763 Michel was living with his parents and younger brother Jacques at their home in New
Orleans within Captain Guinault’s military district11,12. By 1766 Acadians were beginning to arrive in Louisiana and were being settled by the Spanish along the Mississippi River north of New Orleans. About 1765 Jacques Cantrelle, approaching his 69th birthday, established an indigo plantation on his 1762 land grant located near present-day St. James, LA in an area called Cabahanoce. His property on the west bank of the Mississippi River extended from just below the present St. James Catholic Church down river to about the current St. James Co-Op Sugar Mill. His two sons-in-law Louis Judice and Nicolas Verret along with their wives (Jacques Cantrelle’s daughters) and young families had already established homes in this area. Jacque’s grant lay between their properties. Did he move here to be near his daughters and grandchildren? Initially his wife Marie Marguerite Larmusiau and their two sons Michel and Jacques Cantrelle did not accompany Jacques to Cabahanoce. Perhaps he traveled between New Orleans and Cabahanoce for a time to be with his family and to oversee the operations of his farm.

In 1766 Jacques Cantrelle was at Cabahanoce with his five slaves. He now had 28 arpents of land, 20 hogs and one gun. His wife and two sons were not with him27, 28. Between 1766 and 1769 Jacques Cantrelle brought his wife Marie Marguerite and his two sons Michel and Jacques to his Cabahanoce plantation. On the 14th of September 1769 Louis Judice censused the settlers at and near Cabahanoce. Jacques Cantrelle, his wife Marie Marguerite and his two sons Michel and Jacques are with him at Cabahanoce. By this time he had divided his property and livestock with his sons. He had retained eight arpents of land for himself and had given ten arpents each to his sons Michel, age 20, and Jacques, age 19. Michel Cantrelle had ten head of cattle, four pigs, six sheep and one gun31,32.

As a young man and a son of a prominent plantation owner, Michel Cantrelle quickly gained status in the Cabahanoce area. In January 1770 at the age of 20 he was a lieutentant under his brother-in-law Captain Nicolas Verret in the Militia of the First Acadian Coast41,42.

With death of his brother-in-law Nicolas Verret on 5 November 1775 Michel Cantrelle became the commandant of the Acadians in Verret’s district extending from Front Vacherie to the Ascension Parish line.41. On 1 January 1777 Michel Cantrelle, 27 years of age and a Lieutenant Commandant, was still living on the Cabahanoce plantaion with his father, his mother, his brother Jacques and his widowed sister Marie
Marguerite Cantrelle Verret and her seven children31,32.

Even with his heavy responsibilities as Commandant of the First Acadian Coast and an unending workload managing the Cabahanoce indigo plantation, Michel Cantrelle still found time to court and fall in love.
In 1777, shortly after the death of his father, Michel
married Magdelaine Croiset of Pointe Coupee, the daughter of Francois Croiset and Marie Anne Trepagnier, in St. James Catholic Church at Cabahanoce. Witnesses at the wedding included Joseph Bourgois and Michel’s brother Jacques Cantrelle46,47. Magdelaine Croiset was born on 10 February 1762 and baptized on 25 February 1762 at St. Francis Catholic Church in Pointe Coupee Parish, LA44,45. Unfortunately tragedy shortly stuck as Magdelaine died in September 1778 and was buried on 23 September 1778 in the cemetery near St. James Catholic Church48,49. It appears that
she may have died in childbirth as a daughter of Michel Cantrelle and Magdelaine Croiset was baptized in St. James Catholic Church on 13 January 1779. Her mother Magdelaine Croiset is listed as deceased on the baptismal certificate48,50. Marie Magdelaine Cantrelle, the first and only child of Michel Cantrelle and
Magdelaine Croiset, married Patrick Uriell, son of Jacques Uriell and Mary Mulvany of Ireland, at St. James Catholic Church on 29 September 180051,52.

Torn by the death of his young wife and with a new baby to raise, Michel Cantrelle met Madeleine Celeste Andry, daughter of Louis Antoine Andry and Marie Jeanne Lapierre, and again fell in love. Her father Louis Antoine Andry was adjutant major of the plaza of Louisiana and an infantry captain. Born on the thirteenth of April in 1760, Madeleine Celeste was ten years younger than Michel53,54.

On 20 November 1779 Michel married Madeleine Celeste at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Witnesses at their wedding included Gilbert Antoine Maxent, the militia commandant, Joseph Ducros, city councilman of New Orleans, Jean Baptiste Poeyfarre, soon-to-be brother-in-law of Michel Cantrelle and Bernardo de Galvez, the governor of Louisiana55,56. The young couple and Michel’s daughter Marie Magdelaine Cantrelle returned to the indigo plantation at Cabahanoce where they began their lives together. Soon Michel Cantrelle acquired the property of his deceased brother-in-law Nicolas Verret that was just downriver of his father’s plantation. It included the present villages and plantations of Moonshine, Lagan, Pikes Peak, Home Place and Bessie K. to St. Joe, Felicity, Oak Alley and Baytree.

As Michel Cantrelle grew more prosperous and gained political stature in Louisiana, he and
Madeleine Celeste watched their family grow. On 22 January 1781 they celebrated the baptism of their first child, Marie Josephe, at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. She was born in late 1780 and had been conditionally baptized earlier at their
Cabahanoce plantation – perhaps because she was ill at birth, but more likely because their home was a great distance from New Orleans and required a hazardous 60-mile trip by boat to reach the St. Louis Cathedral57,58. A second daughter Rose Carmelite was born 19 April 1782 and baptized at St. Louis Cathedral on 18 October 1784 after being conditionally baptized at the Cabahanoce
plantation59,60. Madeleleine Celeste gave birth to Jean- Baptiste, their first son, on 19 June 1784. Initially, he was conditionally baptized at Cabahanoce and then brought to St. Louis Cathedral for the baptismal ceremonies on 13 October 178459,60. Four years later on the third of January 1788 Michel and Madeleine Celeste had a son whom they named after his father. Little Michel Cantrelle was baptized at St. James Catholic Church in Cabahanoce on 23 March 178861,62.

On 4 February 1790 young Celeste Cantrelle was born to the couple. Conditionally baptized at St. James of Cabahanoce, she had the baptismal ceremonies supplied at St. Louis Cathedral on 8 February 179163,64. On the 12th of May 1794 little Joseph Xavier Cantrelle entered the world and joined the now large family of Michel and Madeleine Celeste Cantrelle. After being conditionally baptized at Cabahanoce shortly after his birth, he received the baptismal ceremonies on 27
November 1794 at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans63,65. On 28 July 1798 Madeleine Celeste had her fourth son Louis Terence at Cabahanoce. He was baptized at St. James Catholic Church near the family plantation on 27 November 179848,66. The last child born to Michel and Madeleine Celeste was a daughter Rose Aglae. She was born on 26 December 1805 and baptized at St. James Catholic Church on 4 January 180667,68. Michel Cantrelle’s importance in the
government and politics of the day was reflected in the godparents of his children - especially their
godfathers. These men often were military officers in the Spanish army or high-ranking government officials.

Michel Cantrelle began his government service as a young lieutenant in the Militia of the First Acadian Coast. In January 1770 he was serving under his brother-in-law Captain Nicolas Verret. With Nicolas Verret’s death in November 1775 Michel Cantrelle was appointed commandant of Verret’s district
extending from Front Vacherie to the Ascension Parish line. He remained a commandant throughout the period of Spanish rule in Louisiana. When the Louisiana territory was transferred to the United States in
1803, his position as commandant was terminated; however, shortly thereafter in 1804 Governor Claiborne through his emissary Dr. Watkins reappointed Michel Cantrelle as Commandant of the Acadian Coast. In 1805 with the reorganization of parish government in Louisiana, the position of commandant was abolished. This did not end Michel Cantrelle’s government
service, however, as he was commissioned in 1805 as Parish Judge of the new parish of Acadia – the highest level parish official. When Acadia Parish was divided into St. James Parish and Ascension Parish in 1807, Michel Cantrelle became the Parish Judge of St. James Parish – a position he held until 1812. He also was a member of the Louisiana legislative council of the first territorial government. As the residents of St. James Parish prospered during the American period, the growing Acadian population on the east bank of the Mississippi River needed a Catholic church of their own. In 1807 commissioners were selected and they began the construction of a church located on land at present-day Convent, LA. In honor of the long and dedicated service of Michel Cantrelle to St. James Parish, the commissioners named the new church St. Michel de Cantrelle69,70. In late October 1814 at 64 years of age Michel Cantrelle died. He was buried from St. James Catholic Church on 25 October 181471,72. Thus ended one of the most important periods in the history of St. James Parish and the Acadian Coast.